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Having two snakes in a tank...

gzyv15a

gzyv15a

You talking to me?
My question to everyone is can two cornsnakes be content together or is it better to house them separately? I just purchased a 'Coral Snow' and would prefer to house it with another corn snake of mine due to lack of space. I will isolate the new corn at least two months and several sheds before i house them together. Your thoughts...
 
You just opened a huge can of worms by starting this thread. This is a very hot topic among most of the people here. There are many threads already talking about this, so my suggestion would be to use the search feature. You can search for housing together, cannibalism, and anything else that you can think of that will pertain to keeping 2 corns together.

But, to answer your question, some people have done this successfully, while others haven't. In the wild, corns are solitary animals only getting together when they are mating, or when they are born. Housing 2 snakes together can cause stress to the snakes, if it is male female this will cause early breeding to occur, Cannibalism has been known to occur and documented here on the forum, you can't tell the sheds or droppings apart, and if one snake has a sickness, both will have the sickness.
 
The general concensus is to house them separately. Lack of space, personally, is a terrible excuse. If you don't think you have the room for two to be housed separately, don't get a second one. Always have the snakes' best interest in mind when you're getting a new one or housing them.

If you can house them separately for two months for quarantine, why not forever? Cornsnakes don't take up any more room than a fishtank. And while not the best looking, cornsnakes can be housed inexpensively in rubbermaid storage tubs. They're inexpensive, functional, and can be easily converted into proper housing for a cornsnake. I currently have the majority of my collection in such storage tubs until I gradually get the money to convert them over to more proper housing that looks considerably better.

Unless you know the sex of your snakes, I also wouldn't recommend housing together for that purpose as well. A female and male can breed way too early for the female to be physically ready for egg laying and could potentially kill the female. And there is always the risk for cannibalization. Not to mention the diseases and parasites that may not show up in a quarantine situation.

I'm not trying to harp, just inform and stress the importance of housing separately. Some people house together and it works fine...other times, its not so nice. I just don't take the chance with my pets.

:cheers:
 
You're absolutely right, space is a poor excuse. I stand corrected and will house them separately in sterilite tubs. Thanks for the input.
 
You're absolutely right, space is a poor excuse. I stand corrected and will house them separately in sterilite tubs. Thanks for the input.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear. While Sterilites ain't pretty, they are functional till you can make better accomodations possible.

I'm not for forcing people to conform by any means, just want the snakes to be happy and healthy. And usually, housing them together is the opposite of happiness.
 
Wow, that thread by Kathy was very informative...My wife and I are probably going to have to sit and possibly rethink some things. We currently have two cages that contain two snakes. One cage is a 20L and contain a male and female, both about 18in long and both about 8 months old. We have had both of them for about 4 months, the male a little longer and both are feeding well. They both are well acclimated and have never had an issue with either of them except for the male the first week we got him...he was a little "nervous" The male is a little picky about eating, we feed the female, who will eat anything you put in front of her, and place her back in the cage when she is finished. The male takes forever to eat, so we put him in a separate container with his pinky and put him somewhere dark and leave him overnight and return him to the cage in the morning. The two have been together in the same cage now for about maybe 3 weeks or a little longer. The other cage is only a 10g Tall that contains two females...both about 20in long, and both about a year old, we have had one female for maybe just over two months and the other a little bit less (I'm sure we will be scorned for putting these two together) Both are feeding very well and both are very well acclimated to being handled...never had any issues (biting, etc...) with either of them. So far none of the snakes have re-gurged or have we noticed any "behavior issues" between any of them. The male and female are in-separable...they are never more than a few inches away from each other and just recently the two females have been the same way (don't know if that means anything or not) Anyway, like I said we will probably have to think about a few things as far as housing them together and the information provided on this site was very detailed and informative. Will keep you posted.
 
SnakeLuvrs said:
The other cage is only a 10g Tall that contains two females...both about 20in long [...] The male and female are in-separable...they are never more than a few inches away from each other and just recently the two females have been the same way (don't know if that means anything or not)
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I think the females may be inseparable because there is no room for them to get apart. Is a 10 gallon what you really have two 20 inch snakes in, or is that a typo?
 
Mary-Beth is KoRny said:
I think the females may be inseparable because there is no room for them to get apart. Is a 10 gallon what you really have two 20 inch snakes in, or is that a typo?
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No, not a typo, it's a temp area while we upgrade to visionariums...they have plenty of room for now, one usually hides in the hide box while the other one likes to climb and sit on the edge just bleow the lid. Right now they are both in the hide box and there is plenty of room but they still choose to lay on top of each other...they're long but not very thick snakes.
 
Why, oh why would you casually keep a male and female together even after the information about early breeding and potential eggbinding/dead female? In the wild a female could get away from an unwanted suitor, but in a small tank? That's like willingly allowing snake rape. And it will most likely happen.

People can take the risks they want with their pets, I suppose, but some things are just beyond comprehension. And indeed, a 10 gallon tank for two 20 inch snakes must be cramped. My 20" snake looked cramped by HERSELF in the 10 gallon tank she spent her hatchling days in.
 
I just heard about the whole early breeding thing today, I posted earlier that my wife and I need to discuss the situation when she gets home. You consider a 20L a small tank? As for the 10G, the snakes are not quite as long as the long side of the tank, there is enough room for the time that they will be in there.
 
Just be wary of the early breeding thing. My dad has two 2003 corns that were housed together for a bit and a month after I saw them breeding she laid 9 fertile eggs. It wasn't planned and she was just over 200g when she was bred. He got lucky because everything turned out fine but it's still something to remember (and those two were in a 29 gallon tank).

~Katie
 
Oh my..:crazy02:

A 20 gal long would be fine for a smaller statured adult, sure. But not two adult snakes. Even if it appears they're fine, sleeping in different places and such. Could just be that one fills up the hide in the optimum range and the other doesn't want to be near its cagemate.

But honestly, a 10 gallon tall, wide, diagonal...is too small for two snakes. Period. I agree with Wilder, when I kept a couple of my younger snakes in 10 gallons, it seemed too cramped for the one snake let alone two. Corn snakes by habit aren't dominantly arboreal, and its the space of the floor that matters most not how tall the tank is.

The lack of knowledge about males and females being housed together just makes me cringe. Did you think they wouldn't mate or perhaps mate later on when they were adults? Sex happens no matter what you, the owner, wants. Look at all of the puppies and kittens in the shelters because their owners didn't think their female was old enough. =/

If there's a will, there's a way. I had a 2 year old to ovulate this past spring. She was still way too small to even consider breeding, and it would crush me if she would have accidently gotten gravid and died.

As I mentioned earlier, Rubbermaids and Sterilites, while not pretty are functional and some are quite roomy. For mere pocket change you can get a 36" x 14" x 18" tall Sterilite. Which is what I keep my adults in right now and its rather large and it fits my needs while I save up for better housing.

Temporary to me is a couple of days. Visionariums and other cages cost a pretty penny, so I'm sure its taking a while to get the funds available to purchase one, two, or FOUR. Yes, snakes look pretty together...but there's just entirely too much risk for it to be done at my home.

If you must keep snakes together...put the male in the 10 gallon and the 3 females in the 20. :rolleyes:

Steps up on soapbox..

People need to learn to research, research, research before they go out and impulse buy reptiles. They need to learn their husbandry skills and what it takes to keep reptiles properly and responsibly. Sure having four snakes is nice, but cramming them into 'temporary' housing is not. Especially knowingly letting mixed pairs to be housed together.

Snakes don't 'like' each other in the typical human sense. They don't hold tails and take leisurely walks around the tank together. They're *insepearable* because they simply don't have the proper room to do their own thing. They're in the same hide because it's got the optimum conditions for that cage compared to a different hide.

To new people reading this, use the search function! It's there for a reason and it does work. Trust me!

Steps off of soapbox..

I'm not ranting at you SnakeLuvrs (well, not too much anyway). Just idly frustrated that people don't research pets before they get them. Before I got my snakes, I read everything I could get my hands on to make sure I was doing everything to make the snakes happy and healthy and to ease my own mind from worry.

Dogs and cats are no-brainers. You put out a food and water bowl, kitty litter box, toys, bed and voila. Snakes don't fit the same set of rules, sadly enough. They're still a solitary animal and the only time they willingly get together is for the sake of mating or hibernating and thats it.

Ok..I'm going to go water flowers and try to un-wind now. Hopefully you don't feel attacked by all of this. We just want the best for our snakes and everyone else's. =)
 
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